FOR INFANTS AND YOUNG CHILDREN

In the fi rst 2 years of a child’s life, optimal nutrition fosters healthy growth and improves cognitive development. It also reduces the risk of becoming overweight or obese and developing NCDs later in life.

Advice on a healthy diet for infants and children is similar to that for adults, but the following elements are also important.

• Infants should be breastfed exclusively during the first six months of life.
• Infants should be breastfed continuously until 2 years of age and beyond.
• From 6 months of age, breast milk should be complemented with a variety of adequate, safe and nutrient dense complementary foods. Salt and sugars should not be added to complementary foods.

PRACTICAL ADVICE ON MAINTAINING A HEALTHY DIET

Fruits and vegetables

Eating at least 400 g, or 5 portions, of fruits and vegetables per day reduces the risk of NCDs and helps ensure an adequate daily intake of dietary fi bre.

In order to improve fruit and vegetable consumption you can:

• Always include vegetables in your meals
• Eat fresh fruits and raw vegetables as snacks
• Eat fresh fruits and vegetables in season
• Eat a variety of choices of fruits and vegetables.

Fats

Reducing the amount of total fat intake to less than 30 percent of total energy intake helps prevent unhealthy weight gain in the adult population.

Also, the risk of developing NCDs is lowered by reducing saturated fats to less than 10 percent of total energy intake, and trans fats to less than 1 percent of total energy intake, and replacing both with unsaturated fats.

Fat intake can be reduced by:

• Changing how you cook – remove the fatty part of meat; use vegetable oil (not animal oil); and boil, steam or bake rather than fry;
• Avoiding processed foods containing trans fats; and
• Limiting the consumption of foods containing high amounts of saturated fats (e.g. cheese, ice cream, fatty meat).

Salt, sodium and potassium

Most people consume too much sodium through salt (corresponding to an average of 9–12 g of salt per day) and not enough potassium. High salt consumption and insufficient potassium intake (less than 3.5 g) contribute to high blood pressure, which in turn increases the risk of heart disease and stroke (6, 10).

Over 1.7 million deaths could be prevented each year if people’s salt consumption were reduced to the recommended level of less than 5 g per day. People are often unaware of the amount of salt they consume. In many countries, most salt comes from processed foods (e.g. ready meals; processed meats like bacon, ham and salami; cheese and salty snacks) or from food consumed frequently in large amounts (e.g. bread). Salt is also added to food during cooking (e.g. bouillon, stock cubes, soy sauce and fi sh sauce) or at the table (e.g. table salt).

Most people consume too much sodium through salt (corresponding to an average of 9–12 g of salt per day) and not enough potassium. High salt consumption and insufficient potassium intake (less than 3.5 g) contribute to high blood pressure

You can reduce salt consumption by:

• Not adding salt, soy sauce or fish sauce during the preparation of food
• Not having salt on the table
• Limiting the consumption of salty snacks
• Choosing products with lower sodium content.
• Potassium, which can mitigate the negative effects of elevated sodium consumption on blood pressure, can be increased with consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Sugars

The intake of free sugars should be reduced throughout the lifecourse. Evidence indicates that in both adults and children, the intake of free sugars should be reduced to less than 10 percent of total energy intake, and that a reduction to less than 5 percent of total energy intake provides additional health benefits.

Sugars intake can be reduced by:

• Limiting the consumption of foods and drinks containing high amounts of sugars (e.g. sugar- sweetened beverages, sugary snacks and candies); and eating fresh fruits and raw vegetables as snacks instead of sugary snacks.